


Falling Asleep (in weird places)

by Peppsta



Series: Lets hurt Tobirama [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst, Gen, Grumpy - Freeform, Hashirama is a good bro, He loves his brother, Hurt Tobirama, Hurt/Comfort, If You Squint - Freeform, M/M, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Senju Tobirama Needs a Hug, Tobirama Whump, annoyed, could be seen as gen or slash, do people still say whump, im old yall, its time again folks, madara is... well madara, mito is awesome, once - Freeform, touka is mentioned like, ya know
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-04
Updated: 2020-06-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:21:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24539926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peppsta/pseuds/Peppsta
Summary: Madara keeps on finding Tobirama asleep in the weirdest of places. He gets curious to know why.
Relationships: Senju Hashirama & Senju Tobirama, Senju Tobirama & Senju Touka, Senju Tobirama & Uchiha Madara, Senju Tobirama & Uzumaki Mito, Senju Tobirama/Uchiha Madara
Series: Lets hurt Tobirama [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1773670
Comments: 9
Kudos: 312





	Falling Asleep (in weird places)

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome back to another round of "lets hurt tobirama"

“Senju, I need you to sign this.”

Madara threw the door, leading into Tobirama’s office, open with a loud bang. The force of the swinging door lead to several stacks of paper leaving their original place and flying through the office, some even out of the window. 

Madara couldn’t care less. He needed to get this document signed, so the Uchihas could finally start to expand their compound. It’s been years and due to them living with other clans in a village now, they needed to get permission to do something like expanding. He was sure, a lot of people would severely disagree and move mountains, just to keep the Uchihas contained in their own area. Still, after ending the war, their population grew in masses. No dead children, no dead wives, no dead husbands. Their clan grew and grew and grew and the spaces to build new houses on, were radically declining. So Madara NEEDED this document to be signed, quickly.

The moment the older Uchiha looked at Tobirama, he knew something was wrong. His hair was a complete mess. White strands were sticking out at every angle, having Tobirama look like a pale hedgehog, even more than usual. His pale skin looked dull and his closed eyes seemed to be sunken in. Dark circles surrounded the eyes. While his head was resting on the desk, he pressed himself into his crossed arms, and at the same time he smeared black ink all over his clothes and face. 

The ink had been spilled all over the desk. It was even dripping on the floor.

What was that idiot thinking? His clan desperately needed his signature and what was that Senju doing? Sleeping on the job! The stack of paper slowly started to crinkle, because Madara couldn’t contain his anger anymore. He pushed the door shut with all his might, papers started to lift off again and Tobirama’s head shot up, after hearing the door slam shut. 

Various pieces of paper were sticking to the younger man’s face, leaving him looking cluelessly, maybe even a little scared, at Madara. He didn’t seem to realize what was happening, leaving Madara to approach him and throwing the documents onto his desk.

“You said you will have them signed on my desk at sunrise, Senju! They were at my desk, but without any form of signature from you or your brother!” Madara shouted, grabbing Tobirama’s collar, pulling him off his chair, until their faces were separated by mere centimetres. Up close, the Senju looked even worse. His signature red eyes were surrounded by small veins, sharing the colour. His skin seemed dry and it was peeling of at some places.

Tobirama didn’t look him in the eye, he never did, instead he was focussing on the tip of his nose. He placed his hands on the table and pulled himself away from Madara’s tight grip. It was unusual that the Senju didn’t answer him at once. The man just took a look at the stack of paper, which had been carelessly thrown at him. 

There was dead silence between the two men, Madara was staring at Tobirama, and Tobirama was staring at the papers, silently reading them. The Uchiha could see the papers slightly shake, until Tobirama sat back down and placed the papers on his desk. His trembling left hand reached for a pen, which was scattered carelessly on the table. It was unusual for the Senju to have such a mess on his table, but at the same time, Madara never expected him to fall asleep while on duty either. 

The sloppy, pale fingers finally found a pen and carefully dipped it into the remaining ink. With a few strokes, the document was signed, Tobirama blew on it, so the ink would dry quickly, put the papers neatly over each other and handed it over to Madara, who had watched the whole process. He took the stack in his hands, looked it over again, checking for any changes the Senju could have done in the meantime, but it seemed everything was in order. The illegible signature was at the right place and the date was also correct. Madara looked at the Senju one last time, then quickly turned around, leaving the younger man in a mess of scattered papers and spilled ink.

Madara’s day had a rough start but it was starting to turn for the better now. He was standing in front of the Hokage, who just shook his hand, officially sealing the contract of expanding the Uchiha compound. He knew Hashirama would accept his proposal and wish, the hard part had been trying to convince everyone else. 

“I know how long you have been waiting for this, my old friend. I’m glad it’s finally happening.” Hashirama put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing slightly. A big smile was found on his friends face and small wrinkles surrounded his still young face. 

The complete opposite of his brother.

“Thanks. I thought, we’ll never get this working, after I found the documents unsigned on my desk this morning, even though, your brother had promised to sign it in the morning and leave it there.” Madara complained and scratched his head. He was really grateful, the Senju brothers did accept his proposal, defending it against different clans and the elders, who thought they were still in the war. 

Hashirama took his hand from his shoulder and Madara already missed the warmth of his friend’s touch. His young and carefree eyes had quickly turned into eyes full of sadness and concern. Hashirama’s brows furrowed and the corner of his right mouth was pulled back. A clear sign of discontent.

“That’s really weird. Tobirama usually is so thoughtful of his duties and wouldn’t forget something like this. I guess I’ll need to talk to him about that. Maybe he’s sick. He’s been pulling a lot of all-nighters lately. He’s not sleeping regularly.”

Madara snickered and patted his friend’s shoulder. “Thoughtful of his duties? Hashirama your brother was sleeping on his desk when I confronted him. I don’t know what he did last night, but it doesn’t seem to be sleeping.” He knew, the younger Senju had always been some sort of masochist, burdening himself with more and more work, even going so far and taking over some of Hashirama’s work. Madara didn’t blame him on this, though, they both knew how careless Hashirama can be and the work of a Hokage must be flawless, so making sure everything was in order was important. 

Hashirama gasped at hearing this story. You can say about Hashirama what you want, but he only wants what is best for his loved ones and hearing his brother sleep while he should be working left him worried. This wasn’t like Tobirama at all. 

“I’ll talk to him later.” Hashirama seemed very earnest suddenly. Madara knew how much Hashirama cared for his (last) little brother and he would do anything for him. Seeing Hashirama’s reaction to his anecdote, Madara felt his curiosity awake. Something was wrong with the younger Senju and he was going to find out what it was. 

“Is there anything else you need?” Hashirama asked and opened the door for his friend. Shaking his head, Madara left the office, but not without waving goodbye. It’s not like he’s going too far away, he has a job to do after all.

The next time Madara saw Tobirama it was… a curious sight. He found the man sitting, outside, facing the street, on some stairs, leading to his house. At first glance Tobirama seemed to be slipping on his sandals. Nothing unusual so far. Madara walked closer because he didn’t seem to be moving at all. Quickly scanning his surroundings, Madara decided it was time to get closer to the sitting Senju and see what’s going on. 

Madara would have laughed out loud, if it wouldn’t be so concerning and dangerous at the same time. Tobirama Senju, the White Demon, material of a lot of scary stories, Uchihas would tell their children to scare them, had fallen asleep while putting on his sandals. He could hear deep breaths coming from the younger man. His fingers where twitching every once in a while, as if he was trying to grab something. 

It’s not wise for him to let down his cover like this. The younger Senju had many enemies and in a position like this, anyone with a knife and a slight feeling of revenge, could harm him.

Madara chuckled, shook his head, and walked over to the house next door and loudly knocked onto the dark brown door. Normally this wasn’t his business, but since he wanted to find out what was wrong with Tobirama he decided to let his older brother know. Shuffling and mumbling could be heard from inside and the door was quickly opened. A young, beautiful, redheaded woman stood in front of him and greeted him with a gentle smile.

“Ah Madara Uchiha, what a surprise. I bet you want to speak to my husband.” Madara nodded quickly, not wanting to disturb them in their free time for more then necessary. “I hope it’s not work related, my husband needs to relax too.” Mito added while looking for her husband, who, right on time, came across the corner. His face lit up, the moment he saw Madara.

“Madara! What can I do for you! What a pleasant surprise!” He skipped towards his friend and crushed him in a rib-smashing hug. He patted the bigger man on his back, a sign so he could be let down again. “What can I do for you?” 

Madara’s mouth was pulled into a grin and he pointed with his thumb at the other Senju sitting on the stairs. “I thought I could inform you, that your brother fell asleep while putting on his shoes. Outside. On his stairs.” 

He took a few steps back so Hashirama and Mito could stick their heads out of the door. The two of them seemed to be shocked. Their mouths were wide agape, and they stared at Tobirama’s sleeping from. Mito was the first to react, she ran inside and grabbed a big blanket from their couch and ran outside. Hashirama finally snapped out of it and jogged after his wife. He could hear the Hokage silently mutter “Not again.” 

Frowning, Madara decided to follow the couple. Again? Has this been happening often? How often? Daily? Weekly? Since when? The Uchiha had a lot of questions flowing around in his head. Tobirama had always been a mystery to him. He almost seemed magical.

Tobirama possessed immense speed. He had always had a hard time following the younger man, even with his Sharingan. He was flexible as hell, dodging every attack, bending his body to its breaking point, making it look like his bones are about to snap instantly from the pressure. His looks had always had a special emotion swell up in Madara. Eyes red, but not like the Sharingan. Red like blood, the blood he spilled in war, the blood which drenched the floors of the forests, until this day, making him an exceptional warrior. Hair and skin white like snow, almost translucent. You could easily see the blue veins running through his body, making him look like some sort of alien. 

Madara quickly shook his head. Looking at the Tobirama now in front of him, he had nothing in common with the man he just described in his head. There was nothing magical or alien about him. He looked… old… vulnerable… almost empty. 

Hashirama gently shook his brother’s shoulder with both hands, trying to be careful. Mito pulled the blanket around the younger man, almost motherly. Madara knew how much Tobirama meant to Mito. He was like a little brother to her. He once heard Hashirama complain how his wife and his brother often took sides against him. It seemed like they were remarkably close. 

“Come on, buddy. Wake up this is no place to sleep.” Hashirama whispered to his brother, seeing his eyes were slowly opening. For a second there was panic in those red eyes. Tobirama didn’t seem to know where he was and who was in front of him. Madara made sure he couldn’t be seen by the younger Senju, not wanting to aggravate him further.  
Tobirama raised his hands, grabbing the front of Hashirama’s robe. It seemed like he wanted to attack him. His fingers were scrunched up in the fabric, almost tearing holes into it. Hashirama softly leaned his forehead against his brothers and buried his hands into the white hair. Madara had often seen this pose when studying Senjus. Their clan was completely different from his own, so he deemed it interesting to look at their behaviour and their rituals and compare them to his own. 

The touching of two foreheads seemed to be pretty intimate. He had only seen this between Hashirama and his brother and his wife. Tobirama once touched foreheads with his cousin Touka after he and Hashirama both signed the peace treaty between their clans. 

The Uchiha felt uncomfortable watching such an emotional and familiarly moment. He felt out of place. Tobirama had calmed down in the meantime and rested his head against his older brother’s shoulder, eyes again closed. Hashirama stroked his back a few times and whispered something in his ear. The other man nodded and Hashirama put his hands under the knees of Tobirama and easily lifted him up. Madara took back a few steps, impressed by this performance of strength. Tobirama was not a small man, so Madara can’t imagine him to be very light. Of course, Hashirama is in no way weak, he is, after all, called “God of Shinobi”. 

Hashirama carried Tobirama away from the stairs and disappeared in his house. Madara was left outside, standing side by side with Mito, who stood up from her kneeling position. She had the same face of worry like Hashirama, when Madara had told him about his sleeping brother a few days ago. Suddenly she turned around and bowed. 

“Thank you for telling us. We have been inside for the whole day and probably wouldn’t have seen our little brother sleeping there. I’m sure you are confused.” Madara nodded and rubbed his chin. 

“This isn’t the first time this had happened, right?” Madara asked. “You two where way too prepared for this.” Mito closed her eyes, sighing. “No, this isn’t the first time. But it’s not my place to tell.” 

Madara nodded in understanding. It was Tobirama’s burden to carry. And it was his decision to share. Not that he would share something personal like this with someone like Madara Uchiha.

To Madara it seemed, like he wasn’t needed anymore, so he decided to bid farewell to Mito and carry on with his day. He had planned to do something after all. What it was? Well, he was sure he’ll remember.

Madara was in a hurry. It was raining and he had to get these scrolls somewhere safe and dry. The library seemed like a good place to find shelter in. It was quiet and relaxing there and he could work on these scrolls without any interruptions. Annoyances like Hashirama and Izuna never went to the library, after all. 

Finally arriving, he quickly went inside and shook himself, like a dog who just came out of a river. Thousands of water droplets were flying through the room, leaving various small, dark dots on the bright wall. A puddle already started to form under his legs, and he was sure the librarian would scream at him later, for making a mess in the entrance hall. 

After making sure he was halfway dry, Madara decided to enter the main room of the library. Shelves were covering every wall, up to the ceiling. Some scrolls were neatly placed on top of each other, others were carelessly shoved in. The air smelled like paper (surprise) and dust. Some of these scrolls endured multiple centuries just to find their way into the library to collect some dust in a shelf. 

After taking in the ambience of the room, Madara started to walk towards his usual working place but stopped in his tracks when he saw a leg stick out of a bottom shelf. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and opened them again. The leg was still there. He looked around but he seemed to be the only person the be in the room right now. Well, except the leg. He quickly activated his Sharingan, just in case. When he got closer, he thought he was dreaming. His life just keeps on getting crazier. 

Tobirama Senju was squeezed into the tight space between the right side of the shelf and some book, covering the left side. Some books were lying on the ground, others were covering his body. His front was turned towards the corridor, so Madara could see his face. He appeared to be sleeping. AGAIN! Madara shook his head, having enough of finding the younger Senju asleep every other day, at the weirdest places. Wanting to wake him up, he stomped towards the sleeping figure. They were alone in the room, so no one could stop him walking around loudly. He placed his hand on his shoulder, ready to shake. Before he could do just that, he felt a slight tremor under his palm. The Senju’s whole body was shaking. Not knowing what to do, he just stood there, frozen. 

Getting a closer look at Tobirama, he noticed how bad he looked. Well, not in general, but right now. He looked even worse than that one time he found him asleep at his desk. His skin was pale, paler than usual, almost grey. Eyes sunken in, hands twitching, body shaking. Something was wrong and Madara was going to find out what. Now. 

The second he shook the Senju awake, his eyes ripped open, bloodshot eyes stared at him. Madara almost stumbled back a few steps, but quickly regained his posture. He was ready for a scolding why he woke him up but Tobirama was just staring at him, while the trembling didn’t seem to cease. The younger man started to struggle, wanting to back up, only to find himself trapped between Madara’s body and the back of the shelf. Panic started to rise and his struggling increased. He tried to pry his hand away from his shoulder but noticing he could barely get his arm out. He must have slept there for a while now, because it seemed his left arm fell asleep. 

“Let me go, Uchiha!” Tobirama shrieked. His eyes were empty, like he was trapped in a Genjutsu. Tobirama got his legs out of the shelf and blindly kicked at the Uchiha in front of him. Madara cursed silently, after a few kicks hit his ankles and shins. 

“Would you stop that!” He yelled, holding up his arms, so he wouldn’t seem as a threat. Even though, everyone would seem as a threat, when waking up in an unfamiliar environment. The Senju fell out of the shelf and landed on his numb side, whining slightly. Madara knelt down, trying to help him up. He stopped before he could touch the other, because Tobirama kept backing up. 

Madara frowned, feeling like they made a giant step back in their relationship. He thought it was going well. The two of them haven’t been at each other’s throat for at least two weeks now, which both men counted as progress. They even shared friendly words with each other once or twice, so Tobirama backing away from Madara, while cornered in the library, looked pretty bad. 

The Senju was not himself, Madara noted. Even if he were scared of him, he wouldn’t show it like this. He would try to hide his fear and stand brave. It seemed like he was trapped in a nightmare or a memory. He needed to get his focus back on the present. The here and now. 

He knew both of them were interested in Jutsus, creating them, using them, and learning about them, so Madara decided to sit down, cross his legs, and grab one of his scrolls. He opened it carefully, watching out not to rip anything, and started to read out loudly. 

“In order to perform most Lighting Release Jutsu, users must convert their Chakra into electricity. One of the simpler ways to use this electricity is to channel it into Ninja tools, increasing the weapon’s cutting power by making it vibrate or…”(1) Madara looked up to see Tobirama stare at him. It seemed to have worked. 

“Tobirama? Can you hear me?” He asked carefully. The man facing him still looked a little bit confused, but he could see his eyes looking clearer now. They were still dull, but Tobirama was finally freed from the thoughts haunting him. The younger man rubbed his hand across his temple and groaned loudly. 

Deciding it was enough, Madara rolled his scroll back up and put it in his bag. “Finally awake, princess?” He grinned and leaned back onto his hands.  
Tobirama shot him an annoyed look, now rubbing his wrists, to get the feeling back. 

“Care to explain, why you were sleeping in a literal shelf?” Madara asked, pulling his brows up in a mocking way. He was not going to leave, until he found out, why Tobirama always fell asleep in these awfully uncomfortable places. “Or on stairs? While putting on sandals?” He kept asking.

Tobirama’s head shot up. “Who told you that?” He pointed with his index finger in his direction, accusing him of something. 

“No one! I was there!” He yelled angrily. “I was the one who called Hashirama and Mito, because you were basically sleeping on the street!” Tobirama lowered his finger slowly, looking ashamed. “And I’m not going to leave until you tell me what’s going on!” Now it was Madara who raised his finger in accusation.

Tobirama put his head in his hands. “It’s just… I can’t seem to fall asleep in my own bed anymore. Those weird places,” He made quotation marks with his fingers. “are the only places I can fall asleep in.” He sighed and leaned against the shelf to his right. “It’s been happening since we signed the peace treaty. It’s like my body still thinks we are at war and can’t rest in a comfortable bed. It has just been quick naps since then.” Tobirama answered, playing with the seam of a book. 

“We are living in peace for over a year now. How are you still alive?” Madara asked shocked. The Senju in front of him chuckled and looked at his still trembling hands. “Believe me, sometimes I ask myself the same questions.” 

Tobirama moved, getting up slowly. He supported himself on the shelves and pulled himself up to his full height. He wasn’t much taller than Madara, just one or two centimetres but with the posture of tiredness, Tobirama was showing right now, Madara was a few centimetres taller than him. The Uchiha stood up too, sweeping up his stuff at the same time. He pulled one arm of Tobirama over his shoulder and supported his body with his other one. 

“You don’t know that, but we Uchihas have various ways of helping you fall asleep. Let’s try them out. I don’t want to see you asleep in a fucking shelf again, Senju.” Madara said, as he led Tobirama out of the library.

“Oh my god.” Tobirama sighed, thinking of the humiliating things he had to endure now.

**Author's Note:**

> 1) I stole that one thing about the lightning release from Narutopedia https://naruto.fandom.com/wiki/Lightning_Release
> 
> Also the idea with sleeping in a shelf didn't come from me I found a pic and thought it was funny. Have fun! https://www.liveabout.com/thmb/OF_IO9TpGlX3u35yBM8I497H7cg=/650x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(webp)/library-5aba91956bf069003817614c.jpg
> 
> But anyway I hope you liked it :D


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